Abortion may be declared a ‘human right’ in tomorrow’s EU vote

Hilary White

BRUSSELS, December 9, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – European pro-life advocates are warning that tomorrow’s vote in the European Parliament on the controversial “Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,” could be a major advance for the abortion-promoters. The report advocates treating abortion as a “human right,” mandates compulsory sex-education for all children from their first year, and curtails conscientious objection rights for health care workers.

Named after Portuguese socialist MEP and one of the EU’s leading abortion-campaigners, Edite Estrela, who brought it forward, the Estrela Report proposes unrestricted access to abortion on demand as a minimum standard for all EU Member States. It called for children aged 0-4 to be instructed about “enjoyment and pleasure when touching one’s own body,” “early childhood masturbation,” “different family relationships,” “the right to explore gender identities,” and “the right to explore nakedness and the body, to be curious.” It said they should be taught to explore “curiosity regarding own and others’ bodies,” and “a positive attitude towards different lifestyles.”

The report, that was co-written by the commercial abortion organisation International Planned Parenthood Federation, was rejected in October. It was sent back to the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and underwent minor amendments. It still calls for school children as young as 4 to be forced to undertake “sex education” classes and for abortion to be treated as an unlimited “human right”.

The report complains that some member states are still allowed to maintain their legal restrictions on abortion, though Malta is the last country to ban it outright. The report named Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Ireland and Italy as countries “where nearly 70 per cent of all gynaecologists and 40 per cent of all anaesthesiologists conscientiously object to providing abortion services.”

Sophia Kuby, head of European Dignity Watch, a Brussels-based NGO, said the report’s advance through the parliamentary processes at the EU “has less to do with broad support than with machinations and manipulations that are going on behind the scenes.”

She reports that supporters of the report have breached the rules of procedure and are “doing everything they can to push aside objections and not allow open debate about the text.”

Although the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee had been instructed to revisit the controversial wording, Kuby says the committee sent back “basically the same report” while placing a ban on further amendments. Kuby noted also that the text of the report was not made available to the public until December 3, after it was decided to bring it to a vote on December 10.

“The committee has only voted on a few, minor modifications (split votes) to give the appearance of changes,” Kuby said.

“It is quite evident that supporters of the Estrela want to avoid any discussion about and reconsideration of the report as requested by the plenary, a majority of parliament. Yet, there is growing opposition to the report, both in and out of Parliament, as more and more people learn about its actual content,” she added.

Kuby called for Estrela to “be brave enough to accept a fair debate and the outcomes of a truly democratic process.”

The UK’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children have posted links where readers can find contact information for their MEPs to ask that the report be rejected.